


In a Sentimental Mood

by thankyouturtle



Category: Doctor Who
Genre: Alternate Universe - 1920s, Alternate Universe - Historical, F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-20
Updated: 2013-03-20
Packaged: 2017-12-05 21:11:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 809
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/727978
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thankyouturtle/pseuds/thankyouturtle
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rose leaves London with the mysterious Doctor without a thought for those she's leaving behind.</p>
            </blockquote>





	In a Sentimental Mood

**Author's Note:**

> Originally meant for au_bingo. This has been sitting in my drafts folder for far too long; it's still pretty draft-y, but does what I wanted it to do, more or less.

She's Rose Tyler, she's 19, and she's got a good job in a fancy new hotel. She's not married, yet, but Mickey and her have talked and as soon as they've got enough money between them, him playing clubs at night and working in the hotel kitchen during the days, they will. She lives with her mam, for now, who steals her rouge and flirts with the grocer to try and pay a little less for their sugar and tea. And Rose has no idea how boring her life is until she walks into a guestroom at the hotel one morning and finds a body, drained of blood, and a tall man with ears to big for his face bending over it. 

He calls himself the Doctor, and when he offers to take her away, to take her far away, she says yes, without a thought for Mam or Mickey. "You don't want to say goodbye?" he asks, and she tells him she's not the sentimental type. 

The Doctor takes her away. Takes her to places she couldn't have dreamed of. Takes her to places she'll have nightmares about. Shows her beautiful, magnificent things, saves her from things that make her skin crawl. She learns that people never change, that even five thousand years in the future they're still kind and selfish and powerful and angry and in love. And then she asks to go home, and the Doctor takes her. She makes sure he knows that it’s just for a visit, just to say goodbye, and even though he seems reluctant to take her it’s not as though he’s her gaoler. 

Rose is gone for a whole day, and when she finds her way back to the Doctor's blue box she's still wiping the tears away. "I guess I always thought everything at home would stay the same," she tells him, even though he didn't ask. "I thought Mam would just be waiting for me. She didn't - she ain't. She's married that Jack, who was in the army with me Dad." And even though the Doctor doesn't ask, she tells him about the yelling and the accusations and Mickey not being there, and Mam not telling her anything about him, and how she couldn't help but fear the worst.

"I thought you weren't the sentimental type?" is all he says when she finishes, and Rose is stunned. She knows - knows that there was a war, and he lost his family, and that thinking of her as being alone - it made him feel a little less lonely. But she hadn't expected him to be so cold, not when her feelings were so sore. But what can she say? She'd told him she didn't care about Mam or Mickey. She'd lied, even if she hadn't meant to. But - she can't help but disappear to her room, not wanting to see him for a while.

She only comes out again when she feels the usual bumping crash of the Doctor's blue box landing. "Where are we?" she asks, and he flashes his usual grin, as if they hadn't been almost fighting not too long ago.

"New York," he tells her. "There's a jazz singer you ought to see. Well, hear. Come on."

Maybe, she thinks, it's his way of cheering her up, so she finds herself gloves, and a coat, and a hat, and tucks her arm through his as he takes her into a crumbling building and down a dark staircase. Downstairs the electric light is dim and cigarette smoke instantly fills her eyes and nose, but there's a woman there, a singer, with skin darker than Mickey's, and a voice even more beautiful than her face. Rose listens, for a while, and then she sees that whenever the singer is singing about love her words seem to be directed at her piano player, and then Rose sees the piano player, and she leaves.

When the Doctor finds her, she asks the singer's name.

"Martha Jones," he says cheerfully. "She used to be a waitress, until she met a young piano player who found she could sing."

"Are her and Mickey-" Rose starts, and stops, because she's not sure she wants to know the answer.

"Married," the Doctor tells her. "And not famous, yet. But they will be. And just think, if you hadn't come with me, he'd never have bought passage over to the States, and she'd probably never have become a singer because there'd be no one to tell her that she could. And they'd both have been happy with their lives, just not as happy as they are now."

"What about me?" Rose can't help but ask. "Do I get to be happy?"

"Why? Aren't you?"

And Rose thinks about all the places the Doctor's still got to take her to, and thinks she knows the answer.


End file.
